Shiloh Rousseau: What's news in science

Save the Bears! As we all know, global warming (which refers to an average increase in the Earth's temperature) is taking a devastating toll on our Earth's plant and animal life. Sadly, global warming doesn't neglect any species and the polar bears seem to be in the most dangerous of we don't do something to help the fight against global warming. There are currently about 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears in the Arctic. Sadly, however, scientists predict that by the year 2050, two thirds of those bears will be gone because of loss of Arctic sea ice. This leaves, roughly, 8,000 polar bears! It may be easier to comprehend this with a little bit of background information: Oceans cover about 70% of the Earth's surface and store heat. Ice in the Arctic is melting at a rate of 10% per decade. Over the past 100 years, the Earth's temperature has increased 1.2 to 1.4 degrees. Several factors, due to global warming, influence the decline in polar bear populations. Many polar bears rely on the Arctic ice for habitat, and when it melts, they have no place to live. They also depend on it for food, since they leap off of broken pieces of ice to hunt for fish. Since there isn't as much ice, bears are having to swim longer distances which has lead to an increase in the number of deaths caused by drowning. Because the bears are malnourished, they are not reproducing as often as they normally would and the babies are not as healthy and therefore have a lower chance of survival. Lastly, many of the polar bears are resorting to cannibalism due to lack of food. Global warming isn't the only thing devastating the polar bear population. Dust, soot, and harmful chemicals rise in the sky and settle in the Arctic, which the polar bears then swim in and hunt for food in. Legal hunting also kills over 700 bears a year. As sad as this mean seem, there is still hope! One person really can make a difference. If we all try to be more "green" and raise awareness about the dangerous effects of global warming, the polar bears may have a chance.